Politics in Review: Georgians played role in GOP presidential race

ATLANTA — A pair of politicians with deep Georgia roots made their presence felt on the GOP presidential primary.

Both Herman Cain, a Stockbridge resident, and Newt Gingrich, a former Congressman from Georgia, threw their hats into the ring and for a spell flirting with the status of “frontrunner.” Cain has since dropped out, but Gingrich will participate in Tuesday’s Iowa caucus.

Cain, a former businessman and talk radio show host on WSB-AM in Atlanta, announced his presidential bid in May before a crowd of 10,000 at Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. He bowed out of the race earlier this month following a spate of allegations from women, ranging from sexual harassment to a long-time affair with a Dunwoody woman.

Cain has never held public office and lost a 2004 bid to serve in the U.S. Senate from Georgia, a seat Johnny Isakson ultimately won.

Gingrich was an assistant professor at West Georgia College before serving in Congress from 1979 until 1999. He was named Time’s “Man of the Year” in 1995.

Gingrich is currently polling in fourth place in Iowa, according to a Des Moines Register poll.